


Little Things

by Leilatigress



Series: Chosen [2]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-11
Updated: 2015-09-16
Packaged: 2018-03-17 08:27:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3522344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leilatigress/pseuds/Leilatigress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Companion to Bodies and Flames </p><p>Small drabbles of each character for various events throughout the story. Major spoilers for both game and story.</p><p>This is a work in progress so it will be updated and changed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Zevran

Zevran cleans his blades after the last darkspawn is dead looks up to see Neria joining hands with Alistair trying to get rid of her extra magic. It is a fools goal as even he can see the faint glow her magic gives her as it continually reaches and pulls. Her activities with him are both a blessing and a curse for Alistair, she is more pliant more easily controlled but the emotions she emits as she moans his name the fires she lights both on his skin and on the environment a point of contention for the Bastard King and him. 

You could have knocked Zevran over with a feather when she'd told him she was pregnant. Alistair had waved off Neria's concerns on the matter with the truth Wardens rarely had children after joining the Order the taint in their blood unable to produce them. When her and Alistair had come back from the meeting with the Dalish leaders, Alistair had been solicitous over her protective which was not normal. Their bickering had quickly returned but he'd kept his shield between her and any enemy Zevran knew he would. 

Her reaction to the earrings had been a surprise, at the time he had no idea they literally burned her he'd though they held a spell to keep the mage in control. She'd added the slight smell of death to her moonflower and vanilla scent with the addition of the metal. When he'd been unable to save their daughter, been unable to deal with the thought of Cullen in her bed he'd walked away. She'd said they were doomed and as her magic had grown, her control less he'd agreed but those months together braska those months when he'd scorched the sheets with her would be the stuff of legends. For all Neria had been raped and abused she gave her all to him, she'd been willing to try anything at least once and he'd shown her the world of pleasure. She'd chased his demons down and lite them up and he'd convinced her the scars both on body and mind could be healed with his hands and love.


	2. Sten

Sten regarded the slight Elvin woman in front of his cage. She was Sarebaas, he could tell that with the faint glow of her skin. What he couldn't understand was why the male deferred to her, when she claimed to be a Grey Warden he'd almost scoffed. When she'd laid her hands on him and healed him he'd understood why Alistair deferred to her. There was magic in this one more powerful than anything he'd ever encountered. 

Morrigan and Alistair did not get along at all, the witch as Sten had named her and the Basvaraad as he'd labeled Alistair bickered about everything constantly and Warden had ignored them both. The bard Leliana had kept the peace of the group, her tales entertained the travelers and her ability to weave peace between Alistair and Morrigan was a blessing on Sten's ears.

Neria had taken Zevran to her bed hours after the man had tried to kill her and Sten understood that more than the others. Lust after battle was normal, she'd needed a controlled outlet for the pent up energy and sought out the one in the group she knew she could kill with a touch if necessary. He'd expected her to kill him actually, but rarely did Neria do anything Sten expected. 

Sarebaas were supposed to wear chains, that Neria accepted and asked for her chains was not lost on him. When Sten had helped her put in her earrings, when she'd explained what they did to her what they made her feel it had changed the way he thought about mages. He'd never thought to ask the mages if the metal burned if the chains they put on the mages ever took their souls away.


	3. Morrigan

Morrigan watched the young mage sleep, her mother had been adamant this one survive. Flemeth had risked her life for the mage and her Templar and not for the first time Morrigan wondered why. She'd seen the mage's power when she had followed them and felt it a beacon that couldn't be ignored. In the coming months she learned to understand why her mother had saved this one.

Flames, all Morrigan could see where the damn flames and in the middle of it Alistair was kissing Neria. Morrigan had sighed at the display but had known it made sense considering the situation. When she'd told them to knock it off they had and the fire had been doused between them both figuratively and literally. 

She'd run her hand along Sten's shoulder as she pried the armor off the man freeing his arm to finally move. He'd thanked her in his language and Morrigan had repeated the word back to him. Sten had shook his head at her no had corrected her until she said the word correctly. Morrigan had thought maybe the Qunari weren't that bad, when he'd told her Sarebaas were chained, silenced and collared she'd quipped about if he'd like her that way. “No, I would not like you that way my witch. If we ever do run into more Qunari I will not let them chain you I would kill you first.” It had been the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to her and she'd understood he did care about her about them all.

Morrigan had watched Neria and Zevran the love between them not the slow sweetness of a fairy tale but the all-consuming fire both required for it to be real. Zevran had taken the shy quiet little girl from the tower and told her she was worth the world. He’d shown the scared little girl she could get what she wanted, she’d showed the emotionally damaged assassin who hid behind innuendo and false bravado he was just as worthy of love as she was. She’d watched as Zevran had betrayed her, he who hours before had been making love to her had handed her chains and not understood why she had nearly killed him. 

Arrival of a man who knew how to control her that she trusted had set Zevran on his ass. When that man had walked her off the ledge and she’d accepted his arms it had been the blow Zevran couldn’t recover from. What had happened in the Tower had changed the entire group, tentative control Neria had was lost in a conflagration of abuse at the hands of the one man she had never trusted in the first place. Morrigan tried to reconcile the two but circumstances and fate were destined to fuck with both Alistair and Neria to the point she’d bared her throat and he’d locked her away rather than deal with her. 

Zevran and Neria had never stood a chance at recovery, her pregnancy had added more magic to the fray and with the addition of chains almost enough to make her a prisoner she’d pushed him away. She’d never forgiven herself for nearly killing him at the Dalish camp either but they’d still been in love and she’d worried for them both. Zevran’s death, the events that had triggered had been the domino effect Morrigan had been afraid of. It had pushed her into Cullen’s arms pushed the mentally fragile woman into a madness none of them knew how to deal with. She’d clung to Cullen with a desperation Morrigan feared, Cullen had never hidden his love for Neria had been the steady rock she needed to cling to as events hurtled far out of their control.  


When she’d offered the out to Neria it had been a gift of mercy for the mage, a way to get her to the end a way to get her and Alistair to the end without either one of them being reckless. It had served her for naught, even those plans had been dashed across the tower like a vase breaking into a thousand pieces. Morrigan had been there for her and Cullen during the fake ritual, she’d respected the Templar then, not many men would give up everything for the woman they loved knowing theirs was not going to be a happy ending. Not many men would pursue a woman knowing she had months maybe a couple of years with before she would be dead probably at his hands. 

Watching Alistair take out his aggression on Neria during their ritual had been hard. Alistair had used Neria’s chains against her, used her helplessness to abuse her he who had riled so much against her treatment was just as guilty when given the chance. Alistair had used his body to dominate and control Neria when he had the opportunity and not once had Neria bade him stop. Morrigan had known just as Neria had her fight, any fight or resistance against Alistair would have made it worse and that broke Morrigan’s heart. Neria knew exactly how to react to the monster, she’d helped create this monster and owned up to it where Alistair would not. Morrigan often thought through those days riding if Zevran had been alive if Neria would have chanced the potion on him or if like Cullen she’d wanted him pure their love too fragile for something like that. When she’d died on the Tower all their careful plans ashes Morrigan had felt sadness she wouldn’t have expected. Neria had no happy ending, she couldn’t and in a land of those it was a bitter pill to swallow.


	4. Cullen

When Gregor had told him he was headed out with Alistair and group to deal with Neria and the Arch-Demon he’d nearly laughed. Yes let’s send the man who’d been tormented for days on end by the demons off with the object of said torment. But then he’d seen her, skin glowing with magic barely contained. White blonde hair a beacon in the depths of his despair and the way she had flinched when the other Templar had placed a hand on her. That flinch had sold him, she’d clung to the elf on the way across the lake had false fronted everything was fine but none of them were. 

He was going as the Jailer for three mages and he’d had to focus solely on Neria as she’d clapped herself in the bindings of earrings watched as she’d been betrayed by the one she loved. Their reaction to him being able to control her had been eye opening until he’d seen what Alistair had tried to do. Neria had been trying to control her magic and it was a losing battle none of them realized until almost too late. 

Pregnant mages were always unpredictable, their magic surged uncontrollably and some who’d never felt the touch of mage metal had been subjected to it during that time. It was not a common occurrence all of the mages were given preventative and the Templars were cautious but it happened and the consequences were always harsh. Pregnancy with Neria had been difficult to epic proportions. There had been days he’d not been able to let her out of the chains at all when she’d sat silent and crying in the wagon unable to even lift her arms the chains weighed so much. There had been days he’d banned Zevran from being near her the elf’s ability to excite Neria with just a look more than his abilities could handle. 

Losses of the child, of Zevran in one go had been more than any of them could contend with. There hadn’t been a day he hadn’t wished it had been him and not Alistair that had been in the town with her both men knowing Alistair’s presence hadn’t even given the grieving woman pause to consider what she was doing. When he’d taken her to his bed it had been of desperation to control her magic to give her something to focus on other than the pain that it had worked had been a relief. 

Cullen had told her he loved her many times, never had Neria said it back. Cullen hadn’t expected her to, her love had betrayed her had been killed and she was left in the ashes and told she had to move forward with no moment to grieve to come to terms with what was going on. Alistair had used her sorrow her grief to get what he wanted, Cullen never asked if she knew that.


	5. Alistair

He'd grown up both loved and hated. Arl Eamon had been a father for the tender years however his young bride hated the boy and had banished him to the stable. He'd learned to love animals of all sorts not understanding why the Arlessa hated him so much. When Eamon had taken him to the Chantry he'd felt betrayed, only after he was grown only after Leliana had pointed out he had received an education that actually rivaled most lords did he see the wisdom of what Eamon was trying to do. 

Duncan had been a friend to Alistair when he desperately needed one. Together they had recruited and tracked down leads on what exactly was going on with the DarkSpawn. All of them had been having the nightmares and none of them knew what to do about it other than the directive find where they are massing and stop them. 

Neria, when Duncan had shown up with the mage he'd been surprised. His training told him just how powerful she probably was even as stunted as those skills were. He should have found out just what she was before he'd agreed to mentor her, had he known he would have begged for more Templars. No, he would have demanded more Templars after he had put her in enough chains to make her bearable. 

Weeks he had traveled with Neria and she kept her control what she could, he was not the one to teach it to her and she truly didn't trust him. Additions of Sten, Leliana, Wynne and Morrigan divided his focus their tasks seemed mountains with no road map on how to get it done. When Zevran had been added to the mix life had gotten much harder and his need to control Neria had taken on a life of it's own. She would bend to him, she would obey him or he would break her in the process. Instead he'd broken them both, she'd learned to hate and fear him and he'd learned to hate her. 

When Zevran had offered chains, when Cullen had joined and managed what he couldn't Alistair almost breathed a sigh of relief. It was no longer his responsibility to control the temperamental mage now he could finally focus on the tasks and trying to stop the DarkSpawn and deal with his growing want to be king. Neria's pregnancy added a layer of difficulty but they dealt with it, she wouldn't be the first woman to take the field pregnant nor would she be the last. Alistair was not fool enough to think he could stop the DarkSpawn without her he just had to keep everything simmering until they could deal with it. Treaties took time, diplomacy and cooperation which he was not good at getting but most either feared the chained mage or were swayed by her sweet nature and way with words. Even bound in chains Neria could charm most anyone even though she was an elf. 

Losing Child and Love Neria had gone from toeing the insanity line to jumping over it and dancing with the flames. When she'd systematically tortured and killed nearly every person in Honneleath he'd wanted to kill her or at least punish her. He'd watched her kill both by accident and design but this had been too far. His resolve had solidified, he would get her to the final fight and if she survived it he would make sure she never saw the light of day again. Only in the bowls of Aeonar would the world be safe from Neria, however that resolve had been shaken when he witnessed her grief. Her demand he find her child and get it to the Dalish had been one of desperation, she'd never asked for kindness from him but this he could do.


End file.
